Greatest Hits - Roxy Music | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic Greatest Hits google+ AllMusic Review by Dave Thompson The first Roxy Music hits collection, released during the hiatus that divided Siren from Manifesto, was a straightforward rendering of all but one ("Both Ends Burning") of the band's UK hits, buoyed by an intelligent selection of key album tracks - US radio fave "Do The Strand", the pulsating "Editions Of You" and so on. Divided neatly between the Eno and Eddie Jobson eras of the band, Greatest Hits was most valuable at the time for finally placing "Virginia Plain" and "Pyjamarama" on a British album release (the former was included on the American edition of the band's debut) - hopes that the set might also find room for the string of non-album b-sides that graced the band's 45s were, however, dashed as Greatest Hits went for the commercial, rather than the collectible jugular.

Still, it's a nice introduction for those who needed one, a smart souvenir for everyone else, and a vivid reminder that, for five years through the early-mid 1970s, Roxy really did release some phenomenal 45s. Track Listing The Best of Roxy Music - Roxy Music | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic The Best of Roxy Music AllMusic Rating google+ AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann Released to herald a reunion of the band and superseding several out-of-print predecessors, The Best of Roxy Music is an excellent summary of the group's hits and album highlights between 1972 and 1982. There are really two editions of Roxy Music , the glam rock unit that achieved widespread U.K. success from 1972 to 1975, and the more polished one that was a broader international success from 1979 to 1982.

The compilers have dealt with the dichotomy and the more lasting popularity of the later recordings by presenting the compilation in reverse chronological order, so that soft rock hits like "Over You" and "Dance Away," which scored in America, come before U.K.-only hits like "Street Life" and "Virginia Plain," which rock much harder. But all the major hits are here (only a couple of less-successful British singles chart entries are missing), augmented by memorable album tracks like "Do the Strand" and "Mother of Pearl." In print or not, this is the best single-disc collection of Roxy Music , since it is more complete than earlier compilations like the 1977 Greatest Hits and 1983 The Atlantic Years (1973-1980) LPs, and, unlike later best-ofs such as Street Life: 20 Great Hits (1986), The Ultimate Collection (1988), and More Than This: The Best of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music (1995) (the latter two U.K. releases), it is not divided between Bryan Ferry solo tracks and Roxy Music ones.

Track Listing Roxy Music | New Music And Songs | Roxy Music About Roxy Music Evolving from the late-'60s art-rock movement, Roxy Music had a fascination with fashion, glamour, cinema, pop art, and the avant-garde, which separated the band from their contemporaries. Dressed in bizarre, stylish costumes, the group played a defiantly experimental variation of art rock which vacillated between avant-rock and sleek pop hooks. During the early '70s, the group was driven by the creative tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno, who each pulled the band in separate directions: Ferry had a fondness for American soul and Beatlesque art-pop, while Eno was intrigued by deconstructing rock with amateurish experimentalism inspired by the Velvet Underground. This incarnation of Roxy Music may have only recorded two albums, but it inspired a legion of imitators -- not only the glam-rockers of the early '70s, but art-rockers and new wave pop groups of the late '70s. Following Eno's departure, Roxy Music continued with its arty inclinations for a few albums before gradually working in elements of disco and soul.

Within a few years, the group had developed a sophisticated, seductive soul-pop that relied on Ferry's stylish crooning. By the early '80s, the group had developed into a vehicle for Ferry, so it was no surprise that he disbanded the group at the height of its commercial success in the early '80s to pursue a solo career. The son of a coal miner, Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) had studied art with Richard Hamilton at the University of Newcastle before forming Roxy Music in 1971. While at university, he sang in rock bands, joining the R&B group the Gas Board, which also featured bassist Graham Simpson. Ferry and Simpson decided to form their own band toward the end of 1970, eventually recruiting Andy Mackay (saxophone), who had previously played oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra. Through Mackay, Brian Eno joined the band.

By the summer of 1971, the group -- had originally been called "Roxy" but a name change was necessary after the discovery of an American band called Roxy -- had recruited classical percussionist Dexter Lloyd and guitarist Roger Bunn through an ad in Melody Maker; both musicians left within a month, but they did record the group's initial demos. Another ad was placed in Melody Maker, and this time the group landed drummer Paul Thompson and guitarist Davy O'List, who had previously played with the Nice. O'List left by the beginning of 1972 and was replaced by Phil Manzanera, a former member of Quiet Sun. Prior to recording their first album, Simpson left the band. Roxy Music never replaced him permanently; instead, they hired new bassists for each record and tour, beginning with Rik Kenton, who appeared on their eponymous debut for Island Records.

Produced by Peter Sinfield of King Crimson, Roxy's self-titled debut climbed into the British Top Ten in the summer of 1972; shortly afterward, the non-LP single "Virginia Plain" rocketed into the British Top Ten, followed by the non-LP "Pyjamarama" in early 1973. While Roxy Music had become a sensation in England and Europe due to their clever amalgamation of high and kitsch culture, they had trouble getting a foothold in the United States. Both the first album and the follow-up, 1973's For Your Pleasure (recorded with bassist John Porter), were greeted with enthusiasm in the U.K., but virtually ignored in the U.S. Frustrated with Ferry's refusal to record his compositions, Eno left the band after the completion of For Your Pleasure. Before recording the third Roxy Music album, Ferry released a solo album, These Foolish Things, which was comprised of pop/rock covers. Released in December of 1973, Stranded became the band's first number one album in the U.K.

Stranded was recorded with new Roxy member Eddie Jobson, a multi-instrumentalist who previously played with Curved Air; it was also the first record to feature writing credits for Manzanera and Mackay. The album received a warmer reception in the U.S. than its two predecessors, setting the stage for the breakthrough of Country Life in late 1974. Sporting a controversial cover of two models dressed in see-through lingerie -- the cover was banned in several stores, and it was eventually replaced with a photo of a forest in the U.S. -- Country Life was the first Roxy album to break the U.S. Top 40 and became their fourth British Top Ten album. Following a tour with bassist John Wetton, the group recorded Siren. Featuring their first American Top 40 hit, the disco-flavored "Love Is the Drug," Siren was another British Top Ten hit; in the U.S., it was moderate hit, peaking at number 50.

Following the tour for Siren, the band members began working on solo projects -- Manzanera formed the prog-rock group 801, and Mackay and Ferry both began recording solo albums -- and announced in the summer of 1976 that they were temporarily breaking up. The live album Viva Roxy Music! was released shortly after the announcement of the group's hiatus. Roxy Music regrouped in the fall of 1978 after spending 18 months on solo projects. Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson added former Ace keyboardist Paul Carrack to the band's lineup and hired Gary Tibbs, formerly of the Vibrators, and ex-Kokomo Alan Spenner as studio bassists; Jobson and Wetton, who were not asked to rejoin the band, formed UK. Roxy Music's comeback effort, Manifesto, was released in the spring of 1979, and it boasted a sleek, disco-influenced soul-pop sound that was markedly different from and more accessible than their earlier records. Manifesto confirmed their British popularity, reaching the Top Ten, and became their highest-charting U.S.

record, peaking at number 23 on the strength of the single "Dance Away." Roxy Music supported the album with an international tour that featured Carrack and Tibbs; prior to the tour's start, Thompson left the band after breaking his thumb in a motorcycle accident. Flesh + Blood, the follow-up to Manifesto, was recorded just by Ferry, Manzanera and Mackay, and a host of studio musicians. Released in the summer of 1980, Flesh + Blood became Roxy's second British number one album on the strength of the Top Ten single "Over You"; in America, the album reached the American Top 40. In the spring of 1981, the band's non-LP cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," recorded as a tribute to the slain singer, became the group's only British number one single. Nearly two years later, Roxy Music returned in the summer of 1982 with Avalon. Marking a new level in the group's production and musical sophistication, Avalon became their biggest album, spending three weeks at the top of the British charts and 27 on the U.S.

charts, generating the British hits "More Than This" and "Take a Chance With Me." It became the group's only American gold album, and over the years, it worked its way to platinum status. Following a successful supporting tour for Avalon, the group released the live EP Musique/The High Road in the spring of 1983. The Avalon tour turned out to be Roxy Music's final activity as a group. Ferry began to concentrate on his solo career, beginning with 1985's Boys and Girls. Manzanera and Mackay formed a band called the Explorers in 1985; the pair would record under a variety of guises, as well as pursue solo careers, over the next 15 years. The compilation Street Life: 20 Great Hits, which also featured Ferry's solo hits, was released in 1989. A year later, Heart Still Beating, a live album documenting a 1982 concert, was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi Hear more of Roxy Music on Apple Music To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to buy and download music.

Biography Evolving from the late-'60s art-rock movement, Roxy Music had a fascination with fashion, glamour, cinema, pop art, and the avant-garde, which separated the band from their contemporaries. Dressed in bizarre, stylish costumes, the group played a defiantly experimental variation of art rock which vacillated between avant-rock and sleek pop hooks. During the early '70s, the group was driven by the creative tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno, who each pulled the band in separate directions: Ferry had a fondness for American soul and Beatlesque art-pop, while Eno was intrigued by deconstructing rock with amateurish experimentalism inspired by the Velvet Underground. This incarnation of Roxy Music may have only recorded two albums, but it inspired a legion of imitators -- not only the glam-rockers of the early '70s, but art-rockers and new wave pop groups of the late '70s. Following Eno's departure, Roxy Music continued with its arty inclinations for a few albums before gradually working in elements of disco and soul. Within a few years, the group had developed a sophisticated, seductive soul-pop that relied on Ferry's stylish crooning.

By the early '80s, the group had developed into a vehicle for Ferry, so it was no surprise that he disbanded the group at the height of its commercial success in the early '80s to pursue a solo career. The son of a coal miner, Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) had studied art with Richard Hamilton at the University of Newcastle before forming Roxy Music in 1971. While at university, he sang in rock bands, joining the R&B group the Gas Board, which also featured bassist Graham Simpson. Ferry and Simpson decided to form their own band toward the end of 1970, eventually recruiting Andy Mackay (saxophone), who had previously played oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra. Through Mackay, Brian Eno joined the band. By the summer of 1971, the group -- had originally been called "Roxy" but a name change was necessary after the discovery of an American band called Roxy -- had recruited classical percussionist Dexter Lloyd and guitarist Roger Bunn through an ad in Melody Maker; both musicians left within a month, but they did record the group's initial demos.

Another ad was placed in Melody Maker, and this time the group landed drummer Paul Thompson and guitarist Davy O'List, who had previously played with the Nice. O'List left by the beginning of 1972 and was replaced by Phil Manzanera, a former member of Quiet Sun. Prior to recording their first album, Simpson left the band. Roxy Music never replaced him permanently; instead, they hired new bassists for each record and tour, beginning with Rik Kenton, who appeared on their eponymous debut for Island Records. Produced by Peter Sinfield of King Crimson, Roxy's self-titled debut climbed into the British Top Ten in the summer of 1972; shortly afterward, the non-LP single "Virginia Plain" rocketed into the British Top Ten, followed by the non-LP "Pyjamarama" in early 1973. While Roxy Music had become a sensation in England and Europe due to their clever amalgamation of high and kitsch culture, they had trouble getting a foothold in the United States.

Both the first album and the follow-up, 1973's For Your Pleasure (recorded with bassist John Porter), were greeted with enthusiasm in the U.K., but virtually ignored in the U.S. Frustrated with Ferry's refusal to record his compositions, Eno left the band after the completion of For Your Pleasure. Before recording the third Roxy Music album, Ferry released a solo album, These Foolish Things, which was comprised of pop/rock covers. Released in December of 1973, Stranded became the band's first number one album in the U.K. Stranded was recorded with new Roxy member Eddie Jobson, a multi-instrumentalist who previously played with Curved Air; it was also the first record to feature writing credits for Manzanera and Mackay. The album received a warmer reception in the U.S. than its two predecessors, setting the stage for the breakthrough of Country Life in late 1974. Sporting a controversial cover of two models dressed in see-through lingerie -- the cover was banned in several stores, and it was eventually replaced with a photo of a forest in the U.S. -- Country Life was the first Roxy album to break the U.S.

Top 40 and became their fourth British Top Ten album. Following a tour with bassist John Wetton, the group recorded Siren. Featuring their first American Top 40 hit, the disco-flavored "Love Is the Drug," Siren was another British Top Ten hit; in the U.S., it was moderate hit, peaking at number 50. Following the tour for Siren, the band members began working on solo projects -- Manzanera formed the prog-rock group 801, and Mackay and Ferry both began recording solo albums -- and announced in the summer of 1976 that they were temporarily breaking up. The live album Viva Roxy Music! was released shortly after the announcement of the group's hiatus. Roxy Music regrouped in the fall of 1978 after spending 18 months on solo projects. Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson added former Ace keyboardist Paul Carrack to the band's lineup and hired Gary Tibbs, formerly of the Vibrators, and ex-Kokomo Alan Spenner as studio bassists; Jobson and Wetton, who were not asked to rejoin the band, formed UK.

Roxy Music's comeback effort, Manifesto, was released in the spring of 1979, and it boasted a sleek, disco-influenced soul-pop sound that was markedly different from and more accessible than their earlier records. Manifesto confirmed their British popularity, reaching the Top Ten, and became their highest-charting U.S. record, peaking at number 23 on the strength of the single "Dance Away." Roxy Music supported the album with an international tour that featured Carrack and Tibbs; prior to the tour's start, Thompson left the band after breaking his thumb in a motorcycle accident. Flesh + Blood, the follow-up to Manifesto, was recorded just by Ferry, Manzanera and Mackay, and a host of studio musicians. Released in the summer of 1980, Flesh + Blood became Roxy's second British number one album on the strength of the Top Ten single "Over You"; in America, the album reached the American Top 40. In the spring of 1981, the band's non-LP cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," recorded as a tribute to the slain singer, became the group's only British number one single.

Nearly two years later, Roxy Music returned in the summer of 1982 with Avalon. Marking a new level in the group's production and musical sophistication, Avalon became their biggest album, spending three weeks at the top of the British charts and 27 on the U.S. charts, generating the British hits "More Than This" and "Take a Chance With Me." It became the group's only American gold album, and over the years, it worked its way to platinum status. Following a successful supporting tour for Avalon, the group released the live EP Musique/The High Road in the spring of 1983. The Avalon tour turned out to be Roxy Music's final activity as a group. Ferry began to concentrate on his solo career, beginning with 1985's Boys and Girls. Manzanera and Mackay formed a band called the Explorers in 1985; the pair would record under a variety of guises, as well as pursue solo careers, over the next 15 years. The compilation Street Life: 20 Great Hits, which also featured Ferry's solo hits, was released in 1989.

A year later, Heart Still Beating, a live album documenting a 1982 concert, was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Roxy Music: the band that broke the sound barrier | Music | The Guardian The Observer Roxy Music: the band that broke the sound barrier On the 40th anniversary of Roxy Music's debut, we reassess their journey, marked out in a new box set, from aural insanity to elegant perfectionism Roxy Music in their glam pomp. Saturday 1 September 2012 19.05 EDT First published on Saturday 1 September 2012 19.05 EDT melodic, fast, slow, elegant, witty scary, stable, tricky… Musician wanted advert, Melody Maker, 1971 There's a certain sort of glam-rock fan who never ceases to be blown away by the fact that Bowie played a character, the imaginary rock star Ziggy Stardust. That same certain sort of glam fan never stops being thrilled by the nerve and verve of Roxy Music giving a credit on their debut LP to the person who did their clothes, hair and makeup.

Supposedly this was a dissident blow against rock's anti-fashion stance. Cutting through the stale dope-smoke fug of the hippie hangover, Roxy were "the first true band of the 70s". But they also prophesied the 80s, their celebration of posing and artifice anticipating postmodernism, the new romantics, the Face, pop video and self-reinventing superstars like Madonna. Which isn't untrue, but isn't the whole truth either. It's hardly the case that Roxy or Bowie invented the idea of image or were the first rockers to have close relationships with designers and stylists. Most 1960s British bands took an interest in clothes and hair. Nor were Bowie or Roxy's Brian Eno the first flamboyantly androgynous figures in rock. On the record sleeve and in the promo film for Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby? , the Stones wore women's clothing four years before Bowie put on a frock for the cover of 1970's The Man Who Sold the World.

Still, it is true that around 1970-71, rock got awfully drab looking, with countless denim-clad blues-bore and boogie bands, dressed-down singer-songwriters and country-rock outfits, and virtuoso players too wrapped up in their endless soloing to bother with stagecraft. "Everything went flat," recalls Phil Manzanera, the guitarist who responded to Ferry's "avant rock" ad and eventually got the job. "A lot of musicians were getting strung out on heavy drugs," he tells me. "They were out of it, so they weren't even bothering to wear kaftans or other hippie stuff, which had been stylish in their own way." Then, with the emergence of Roxy Music and Bowie in 1972, "suddenly there was colour and exoticism and the spirit of rock'n'roll again. We supported Bowie at the Greyhound in Croydon in June 1972: Bowie in his full Ziggy Stardust gear and us in all our regalia, performing to just 150 people in this little upstairs room.

It was a tiny stage but it had theatrical lighting, so you had to wear make-up because that's what theatre people do, otherwise you look washed-out." John Lennon once quipped that glam was just rock'n'roll with lipstick. Glam historians tend to emphasise the lipstick at the expense of the rock'n'roll; they focus overly on the gender-bending rather than the genre-bending. In Roxy's case, the attention paid to the group's fashion world connections, pop art allegiances and other extra-musical credentials threatens to overshadow their achievements as a rock band. In truth, Eno's feather boas, Bryan Ferry's gaucho look of 1974… they haven't aged that well. It's hard to believe that wearing a white dinner jacket was ever a big deal. Even the celebrated covers of the first five albums, with their lingerie-clad models, look cheesy and chauvinist these days (apart from the still-edgy sleeve of For Your Pleasure , a perversely stylised shot of Amanda Lear walking a panther). The music, though, remains timeless in its weirdness and wildness.

What gets swept under the carpet by the "first true band of the 70s" argument is that the Roxy Music of the first three albums is a post-psychedelic outfit: as much progressive rock as glam rock. Manzanera recalls listening recently for the first time in ages to The Bob (Medley) , the six-part song-suite on 1972's Roxy Music, a sort of "mini-movie" concept piece about the second world war. "This guy is remixing our debut LP in 5.1 surround sound, so I was listening to The Bob and I was laughing. It's pure prog. The whole of that first album sounds so weird. It's such a mish-mash of stuff. Roxy just wouldn't get signed today." Those who view Roxy as pioneers of surface-deep postmodern pop regard the band as radically opposed to the earthy earnestness of what was then known as the underground: long-haired, beardy bands like Soft Machine and Family who played the college gig circuit, recorded sessions for John Peel, appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test and got written up in Melody Maker.

But Roxy's earliest champions were, in fact, John Peel, who invited them to record a session for his show, Melody Maker's Richard Williams, who got the hype ball rolling, and management company EG, whose other clients included King Crimson and ELP, and who hitched Roxy up with Island Records, the leading progressive label of the era. At one point Ferry actually auditioned to be King Crimson's singer. And before Manzanera got the gig, the group's guitarist was David O'List, formerly of the Nice, the original prog band. Early on, Ferry went along with the progressive scene's disdain for chart pop, declaring: "We're not a singles band, really. I certainly don't want to find myself sliding down the Slade/T Rex corridor of horror." Even in hindsight, he recalled that Roxy "didn't think we were as commercial as what other people were doing… When we started, I think we thought we'd be a kind of art-student band, and that's as far as it would go… King Crimson were one polar extreme, Bowie was the other and we were in the middle.

I was astounded when we had a hit record." More than half the band – Manzanera, Eno, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson – came from experimental music, trippy-proggy or heavy rock backgrounds. "We had some weird things that other bands didn't have, like someone playing oboe," Manzanera says of Mackay, who was classically trained and whose interest in the avant garde later resulted in the fine book Electronic Music . Manzanera's previous band were Quiet Sun, an outfit influenced by Zappa, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, while drummer Thompson worshipped Led Zep's John Bonham. A fan of minimalist composers like Steve Reich, Eno was a non-musician who supplied Roxy with irruptions of abstract synth and tape effects: things that were "part of experimental electronic music", recalls Manzanera, "but we used them in the context of songs". The songs themselves weren't exactly conventional either. Some, like The Bob or If There Is Something were more like several songs joined together. Others, like the first two singles, Virginia Plain and Pyjamarama, would be judged unfinished by the standards of hit factories like the Brill building or Motown.

Neither has a chorus, just a single verse melody repeated. This minimalist aspect to Roxy Music came from one of the motley crew's few shared passions: the Velvet Underground. But there were also upsurges of maximalism, acid rock flashbacks like the second half of In Every Dream Home a Heartache , with its phased drumming and gaseously billowing guitar. "That was my chance to vent my inner psychedelia," Manzanera laughs. Even more far out is the title track/finale to For Your Pleasure, especially its hallucinatory extended coda of pointillistic piano trills, like the Milky Way going down the cosmic plughole. The product of the strong bond Manzanera formed with Eno, For Your Pleasure is comparable with Hendrix circa Electric Ladyland or Tim Buckley's Starsailor in its use of the studio and recording tape as a canvas for sound painting.

In late 1973, looking back at the first two Roxy albums not long after he was pushed out of the band, Eno enthused about the music's "insanity… the element of clumsiness and grotesqueness", the "terrific tension", caused by the group "juxtaposing things that didn't naturally sit together". Even after Eno's departure, Manzanera continued to pursue the absurdism and studio-boffin experimentation on the third album, Stranded. Amazona , for instance, is split apart by an indescribably strange guitar solo midway between a fire storm and a gigantic bubble machine. It sounds like the work of several guitarists but it's just Manzanera playing through a complex relay of distortion, repeat echoes and vari-pitch, using a specially built contraption that worked just once. That first and only take is what you hear on the album. Amazona was the first song on a Roxy album for which Manzanera received a credit. Because music publishing operates according to an antiquated, pre-rock conception of composition that rewards those who write the top-line melody and lyrics, most Roxy tunes are credited solely to Ferry.

"It goes back to Tin Pan Alley and the 1930s," says Manzanera. "Eno's synth part on Ladytron, Andy's oboe parts – that came from them. Each member was contributing to the music and to all the arrangements. I like to think that we produced the musical context for Bryan to put his vision into. But that's not reflected in the publishing." It's all the more unfair because, according to Manzanera, from about halfway through For Your Pleasure and onwards, the band would write "the music first – all the music, including the solos. Then Bryan would listen to it and try to write a top-line tune and words. When it worked, it was absolutely brilliant. Because none of us knew what the song was going to be about until he recorded the vocal. Imagine, you've been working on Love Is the Drug for absolutely ages, with no idea that it's even going to be called Love Is the Drug.

Then Bryan turns up, and he sings it, and we're like, 'bloody hell, we've got a single'." Rather than the players "backing" their singer/leader, then, it would be more accurate to say that Ferry fronted them: many of Roxy's greatest songs would never have been written in the absence of what had been generated first by the musicians. Which is not to downplay the importance of Ferry's "completion" role. Stranded's high point, Mother of Pearl , would be a fabulous instrumental but it would not have a fraction of its emotional power without Ferry's words or his incredible vocal performance, where every line, every word even, is delivered with a deranged archness of emphasis, suffusing the entire song with bitter, poisoned campness. In purely musical terms, Ferry's greatest invention is his voice on the first two albums, the reptilian vibrato that paved the way for neurotic new wave mandroids like Gary Numan and Devo. As much as the jarring and jolting music, Ferry's grotesquely stylised singing contributed the aspect of "insanity" that Eno valued in early Roxy. There's no doubt that Roxy was Ferry's "baby".

He formed the group and formulated its overall vision and framing. But, curiously, what becomes apparent as you follow the band's arc through the eight albums (plus one double CD of B-sides and outtakes) corralled in the new box set, The Complete Studio Recordings , is that as Ferry gradually asserts total control over the band, the music becomes less characterful. The individuality of the players, that strange "mish-mash"/mismatch Manzanera speaks of, starts to fade, and so too does the collective character of Roxy as an entity set apart from the landscape of pop. This smoothing-out begins to set in circa 1974-75 with Country Life and Siren. It's in full swing with the reformed Roxy of Manifesto and Flesh + Blood, where Roxy are playing the game of pop according to the radio and dance-floor rules of the disco/new wave late 70s and early 80s. And playing it well: there's no denying the grace of Oh Yeah and Over You, and the shimmer and shiver of Same Old Scene.

The same syndrome affects the lyrics: the verbosity and over-ripeness of the early albums goes, but so too does the imagistic vividness, the unclassifiably mixed emotions. "Songs like Mother of Pearl had masses of words," recalls Manzanera. "In Roxy's first five years there's a lot more witty metaphors and wordplay. But it got more serious gradually, and by the end you had a bunch of haikus, virtually." By Avalon and its big single More Than This, the sound is all patina, glistening with professionalism and perfectionism. The words sketch the barest suggestion of mood; the voice, once so blood-curdling and startling, has become a debonair croon, evoking just a faded and jaded gentility. Ferry has not just annulled the personalities of Manzanera and Mackay, who might as well be session players like the other hirelings credited, he's erased himself too. Immaculate background music, Avalon could be seen as Ferry's own version of ambient music: an "I can do that too" riposte to Eno's reputation as doyen of the cutting edge.

A triumph, in its way, but also a tragic inversion of everything that made Roxy so arresting. Roxy Music - Listen to Free Music by Roxy Music on Pandora Internet Radio more Roxy Music Evolving from the late-'60s art-rock movement, Roxy Music had a fascination with fashion, glamour, cinema, pop art, and the avant-garde, which separated the band from their contemporaries. Dressed in bizarre, stylish costumes, the group played a defiantly experimental variation of art rock which vacillated between avant-rock and sleek pop hooks. During the early '70s, the group was driven by the creative tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno , who each pulled the band in separate directions: Ferry had a fondness for American soul and Beatlesque art-pop, while Eno was intrigued by deconstructing rock with amateurish experimentalism inspired by the Velvet Underground . This incarnation of Roxy Music may have only recorded two albums, but it inspired a legion of imitators -- not only the glam-rockers of the early '70s, but art-rockers and new wave pop groups of the late '70s.

Following Eno 's departure, Roxy Music continued with its arty inclinations for a few albums before gradually working in elements of disco and soul. Within a few years, the group had developed a sophisticated, seductive soul-pop that relied on Ferry 's stylish crooning. By the early '80s, the group had developed into a vehicle for Ferry , so it was no surprise that he disbanded the group at the height of its commercial success in the early '80s to pursue a solo career. The son of a coal miner, Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) had studied art with Richard Hamilton at the University of Newcastle before forming Roxy Music in 1971. While at university, he sang in rock bands, joining the R&B group the Gas Board, which also featured bassist Graham Simpson. Ferry and Simpson decided to form their own band toward the end of 1970, eventually recruiting Andy Mackay (saxophone), who had previously played oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra . Through Mackay, Brian Eno joined the band.

By the summer of 1971, the group -- had originally been called "Roxy" but a name change was necessary after the discovery of an American band called Roxy -- had recruited classical percussionist Dexter Lloyd and guitarist Roger Bunn through an ad in Melody Maker; both musicians left within a month, but they did record the group's initial demos. Another ad was placed in Melody Maker, and this time the group landed drummer Paul Thompson and guitarist Davy O'List, who had previously played with the Nice . O'List left by the beginning of 1972 and was replaced by Phil Manzanera , a former member of Quiet Sun . Prior to recording their first album, Simpson left the band. Roxy Music never replaced him permanently; instead, they hired new bassists for each record and tour, beginning with Rik Kenton, who appeared on their eponymous debut for Island Records.

Produced by Peter Sinfield of King Crimson , Roxy 's self-titled debut climbed into the British Top Ten in the summer of 1972; shortly afterward, the non-LP single "Virginia Plain" rocketed into the British Top Ten, followed by the non-LP "Pyjamarama" in early 1973. While Roxy Music had become a sensation in England and Europe due to their clever amalgamation of high and kitsch culture, they had trouble getting a foothold in the United States. Both the first album and the follow-up, 1973's For Your Pleasure (recorded with bassist John Porter), were greeted with enthusiasm in the U.K., but virtually ignored in the U.S. Frustrated with Ferry 's refusal to record his compositions, Eno left the band after the completion of For Your Pleasure. Before recording the third Roxy Music album, Ferry released a solo album, These Foolish Things, which was comprised of pop/rock covers. Released in December of 1973, Stranded became the band's first number one album in the U.K.

Stranded was recorded with new Roxy member Eddie Jobson , a multi-instrumentalist who previously played with Curved Air ; it was also the first record to feature writing credits for Manzanera and Mackay. The album received a warmer reception in the U.S. than its two predecessors, setting the stage for the breakthrough of Country Life in late 1974. Sporting a controversial cover of two models dressed in see-through lingerie -- the cover was banned in several stores, and it was eventually replaced with a photo of a forest in the U.S. -- Country Life was the first Roxy album to break the U.S. Top 40 and became their fourth British Top Ten album. Following a tour with bassist John Wetton , the group recorded Siren. Featuring their first American Top 40 hit, the disco-flavored "Love Is the Drug," Siren was another British Top Ten hit; in the U.S., it was moderate hit, peaking at number 50.

Following the tour for Siren, the band members began working on solo projects -- Manzanera formed the prog-rock group 801 , and Mackay and Ferry both began recording solo albums -- and announced in the summer of 1976 that they were temporarily breaking up. The live album Viva Roxy Music! was released shortly after the announcement of the group's hiatus. Roxy Music regrouped in the fall of 1978 after spending 18 months on solo projects. Ferry , Manzanera , Mackay and Thompson added former Ace keyboardist Paul Carrack to the band's lineup and hired Gary Tibbs, formerly of the Vibrators, and ex- Kokomo Alan Spenner as studio bassists; Jobson and Wetton , who were not asked to rejoin the band, formed UK . Roxy Music's comeback effort, Manifesto, was released in the spring of 1979, and it boasted a sleek, disco-influenced soul-pop sound that was markedly different from and more accessible than their earlier records. Manifesto confirmed their British popularity, reaching the Top Ten, and became their highest-charting U.S.

record, peaking at number 23 on the strength of the single "Dance Away." Roxy Music supported the album with an international tour that featured Carrack and Tibbs; prior to the tour's start, Thompson left the band after breaking his thumb in a motorcycle accident. Flesh + Blood, the follow-up to Manifesto, was recorded just by Ferry , Manzanera and Mackay, and a host of studio musicians. Released in the summer of 1980, Flesh + Blood became Roxy 's second British number one album on the strength of the Top Ten single "Over You"; in America, the album reached the American Top 40. In the spring of 1981, the band's non-LP cover of John Lennon 's "Jealous Guy," recorded as a tribute to the slain singer, became the group's only British number one single. Nearly two years later, Roxy Music returned in the summer of 1982 with Avalon. Marking a new level in the group's production and musical sophistication, Avalon became their biggest album, spending three weeks at the top of the British charts and 27 on the U.S.

charts, generating the British hits "More Than This" and "Take a Chance With Me." It became the group's only American gold album, and over the years, it worked its way to platinum status. Following a successful supporting tour for Avalon, the group released the live EP Musique/The High Road in the spring of 1983. The Avalon tour turned out to be Roxy Music's final activity as a group. Ferry began to concentrate on his solo career, beginning with 1985's Boys and Girls. Manzanera and Mackay formed a band called the Explorers in 1985; the pair would record under a variety of guises, as well as pursue solo careers, over the next 15 years. The compilation Street Life: 20 Great Hits, which also featured Ferry 's solo hits, was released in 1989. A year later, Heart Still Beating, a live album documenting a 1982 concert, was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Question: What was the first hit for Roxy Music
Answer: Virginia Plain